Project Mercury
Pocket Space Guide #11
by Steve Whitfield

“. . . sit in a capsule on top of a rocket?
I obviously said, ‘No!’* . . .”

When NASA was created in 1958 almost nothing was known about how men and machines would perform in space.  In fact, to many the whole idea was crazy. Yet, in 1962 President Kennedy proclaimed that America was going to the Moon.  From lunacy to a lunar sea – a big step indeed.

Project Mercury was the beginning of America's manned flight in Earth orbit.  The man who said ‘No!’ went on to become one of mankind’s most accomplished astronauts.

“. . . man could do more in flight than a chimpanzee* . . .”

Project Mercury was about “manned” space exploration.  Both chimpanzees and Russian cosmonauts had been into orbit, but neither was saying much about what they’d seen there.  It was America’s “Mercury 7” astronauts who first experienced and described space travel for the free world.

The Project Mercury Pocket Space Guide provides technical details coupled with a complete pictorial history of the Project Mercury space program in a compact and concise guide.  Fascinating facts and color images have been extracted from official NASA documents.

Presented chronologically in an easy-to-follow format, this is a book that both seasoned space buffs and aspiring amateurs will find an interesting and informative resource.

"If you want a capsule summary (pun intended)of project Mercury, they don't come much better than this one." satellite-evolution.com

"A user friendly format providing easy access to a wealth of information and images." Spaceflight

"Whitfield combines smooth narrative with hundreds of colour and black and white pictures to bring a reader complete colourful synopses." Universe Today

96 pages; 48 pages of full color photographs.

* Mercury Astronaut Walter M. Schirra (Captain, USN, Ret.)